A Wrinkle in Time

Rating:
Summary: A Wrinkle in Time (Regular Review)
Review: Meg Murry is having a very bad life. She has no friends, doing poorly in school, and has a very impatient personality with many faults. If It isn't have enough in school to have bad times she has a 5 year old brother that is very, very, very smart ( not a genius as Einstein, but super bright for his age) and her father, who is a physicist, hasn't come home for 4 years! Then, on the day she has a friend called Calvin, the 3 mysterious ladies called: Mrs. Which, Mrs. Who ,and Mrs. Whatsit have taken Meg with her friend and brother on a quest to save her father. She must learn to fix her faults in order to fight against the unknown IT to save her dad.
I really, really, really etc... recommmend this Fiction book. First, it is a book that has recieved the noble newbery award. Second, it takes you into depth of what a world of fiction would be. However, the main it is recommmended is the story explains no matter how hard of a situation you're in ( Like living in life, or fighting IT), you should never give and keep trying to do whatever you may be doing. A Wrinkle in Time contains this moral within it that shows how Meg, a girl with a bad time, was able to overcome hard times.
My favorite part is around the end of the story, when Meg returns after resting, to retrieve Charles ( 5 year old brother)from the mind control of IT. IT, an oversized brain, has the ability to control one's mind, but can be resisted. Meg struggles to get Charles, but can't get to him with IT trying to control her and with brother under IT's control. Meg has tried to be angry, which freed her of IT for only minute moments, for IT experienced anger. She finally finds out that IT never experienced love, and when she loved Charles, he became normal again. Without love, Meg would have never got Charles, and our world wouldn't be the same without it.

Rating:
Summary: This Book Definitely Deserved the Newberry Medal
Review: Meg Murry is miserable. She's an outcast of sorts at her highschool, her five-year-old brother, Charles Wallace, is a genius, and worst of all, her scientist father is gone on what seems to be a dangerous and mysterious mission in space. But help for her father comes in a very unlikely way. Charles Wallace meets three mysterious "witches" (Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which, and Mrs. Whatsit) who soon have Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O'Keefe (a newly-found friend of Meg's) journeying through space on a treacherous quest to save her Mr. Murry. After stopping for rest on a breathtakingly beautiful planet during their travels through the galaxy, Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace find themselves on Camazotz, a planet that has succumbed to the "Dark Thing" (evil). And their quest for Mr. Murry becomes increasingly difficult as they realize the incredible evil they are fighting..."A Wrinkle in Time" is definitely the best fantasy book I have ever read. Madeleine L'Engle's sheer imagination is unrivaled, and her descriptions of the various planets the characters travel to are wonderfully...well, descriptive!...and it really seems like L'Engle's been there. But this book is more than just a meaningless yet prettily written fantasy. L'Engle's unique and moving thoughts on good and evil, as well as our responsibility towards fighting evil are readily apparent in this book. Some very profound things are said, and some very profound concepts are embedded where you'd least expect them to be in this novel. For a treat for your imagination and food for thought, just read "A Wrinkle In Time"!

Rating:
Summary: still terrific, but now I understand more
Review: The phenomenal success of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books (see Orrin's review)--the first two are currently both in the Top 10 of most Bestseller Lists--lead me to reread this Children's Classic, which was one of the big favorites of our generation. I must have read it around fifth grade--I imagine most every kid in America reads it at some point--and no one will be surprised to hear, it turns out I wasn't as smart as I thought I was when I was ten. Madeleine L'Engle managed to hoodwink me, but good. I thought this was just a great Science Fiction/Fantasy story, but now I discover that the whole book is a religious allegory.

Meg Murry and her brothers, Charles Wallace and the twins, live with their mother. Their Father has been missing for years, supposedly working on a top secret government project. Meg and Charles Wallace are strange children, noone seems to know quite whether they are idiots or geniuses. In short order they meet Calvin, a tall gangly boy, who also feels like a misfit and three women who have moved into an abandoned house in the neighborhood. The old women, Mrs. Whatsit , Mrs. Which & Mrs. Who, inform the children that Mr. Murry is in dire straits and needs their help. They travel through time and space via wrinkles, called tesseracts, to the planet Camazotz, where Mr. Murry has gone to battle the forces of darkness that are closing sections of the universe in shadow. There they battle the evil being known as IT, a disembodied brain who offers people complete security if they will only give up their freedom and their individuality, as have the inhabitants of Camazotz.

Most of the allegorical stuff is easy enough to see, the children can fight evil by finding The Father. Meg despairs that evil is allowed to exist at all and blames her father, and so on. But I really liked the fact that L'Engle portrays Camazotz (or Hell) as a place where there is complete conformity and security, but no personal freedom. Personally, I believe that Camazotz closely resembles both a Socialist or Communist State and the Garden of Eden. Just as the great struggle of Ms L "Engle's time was the fight for freedom against the security of Socialism/Communism, Man chose to leave the security of a pastoral existence in the Garden and accept the vicissitudes of life without because we prefer freedom.

The book also contains one of the most beautiful descriptions of human life that I've ever heard. Mrs. Whatsit compares life to a sonnet:

It is a very strict form of poetry is it not?

There are fourteen lines, I believe, all in iambic pentameter. That's a very strict rhythm or meter, yes?

And each line has to end with a rigid rhyme pattern. And if the poet does not do it exactly this way, it is not a sonnet, is it?

Calvin: You mean you're comparing our lives to a sonnet? A strict form, but freedom within it?

Yes. You're given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself. What you say is completely up to you.

This book conveys a worthwhile religiopolitical lesson about the human condition and is great fun besides. I look forward to reading it with my kids.

GRADE: A+

Rating:
Summary: A Wrinkle In Time
Review: This is a book called A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'engle. This book is a 203 page book and the genre is science fiction. Some of the other books Madeleine has written are The Arm Of The star fish, and Dance in the Dessert.
Marrget Murry wakes up on a dark stormy night with her little brother Charles Wallace and her mother. When they go down stairs for a midnight snack a disturbing stranger arrives in their house, saying that the wind blow her off track and she will be on her way, by the way there is such thing as a tesseract.
The characters in A Wrinkle in Time are like regular people. Meg is a bright girl with mouse brown hair, glasses and braces. What she wants more than anything is for her dad to come back. Her personality is she is tough gets in to fights and gets picked on. Charles Wallace is Megs younger brother as his mom says he is smarter than we are, Charles Wallace can read minds, and says it's a full time job. Charles Wallace is a kind gentle person and always hangs around Meg and his mother. Calvin O'Keefe is a basket ball player, student and one of the most popular boys in high school. Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which, and Mrs. Whatsit are older ladies that help Meg, Charles Wallace and Calvin along the way, don't be alarmed there is more to three nice ladies then you think.
I love the authors style and all the wording for instances I watched the trees scudded frantically lashing in the wind or, Every few moments the moon ripped through them, creating wraith like shadows that raced along the ground. Madeleine just gives you so many details and gives you such a good description. The other thing that I like is that she introduces the characters along with the story and she puts a description along with what role they play for example Meg a tough girl with long mouse brown hair and what she wants is her dad to come home. She did not tell you right on, she let other characters tell you the story, and she gets the characters to describe everything.
The book A The Wrinkle in Time is at most the best book of the year. Madeleine is a great author she just keeps you interested in the book and takes you on a roller coaster ride, parts to make you want to keep reading. Madeleine had such weighty themes such imagination the ineffable creativity. I would rate this book 4 star and would recommend this book for everyone, it is slight challenging but if you are in fifth grade you can read it.


Rating:
Summary: TOTAL CRAP!!!!!!!!!
Review: This ranks up there with the "Giver", IT SUCKS!!! I'd rather watch grass grow on my front lawn, or better yet watch a documentary on the history of the ice cube tray. My teacher made my class read this book and there was nearly a revolt! It came to the point where a petition went around to put an end to the reading of the book. AM I THE ONLY PERSON WHO DOES NOT LIKE READING ABOUT TEENAGERS WITH SELF ESTEEM PROBLEMS BATTLING THEIR "INNER DEMONS"!?!?!?!?! This book was boring and made no sense! The sentances were long and winding and boring! One sentance might go on for pages!! IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE FOUND PASSED OUT WITH YOUR EYES ROLLED BACK IN YOUR HEAD DROOLING ON THE FLOOR DON'T READ THIS BOOK!!!! If you have already been lured by some evil to buy this book bring it onto your front lawn and burn it while chanting in tongues to the best of your ability. If you are already reading "A Wrinkle in Time" and can not stop yourself, send the book to me and I will hire an illiterate to rip it up for you. Trust me Il'l be doing you a favour! If you have yet to read the book.... SAVE YOURSELF WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!